Lies Like Wildfire – Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

Thank you so much to the publishers and The Write Reads for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Lies Like Wildfire is a captivating, fast-paced, twisty and shocking YA thriller! I started this book one evening expecting to read a couple of chapters but several chapters later I could not put the book down because of how much it had already gripped me. A couple of days later and I had finished the entire book!

Hannah, Drummer, Violet, Mo and Luke call themselves the ‘monsters’ and the name certainly fits them with all the awful things that happens thanks to them, such as starting a wildfire by ‘accident’ or having your best friend go missing. As the world tries to figure out who started the Gap Mountain wildfire and if Violet is dead or alive, the monsters have a lot of secrets to keep and lies to tell.

The characters in this book are unlikable and are meant to be just that. Their personalities are those of people you tend to dislike and on top of that they conduct a number of questionable things. Yet, I still found myself completely invested in their story. Hannah’s narration of the story in particular is captivating and chilling. She is unpredictable, heavily friend-orientated and can tell lies as if it is her job. Figuring out what was actually happening and what is a lie was a lot of fun because you really do not know what or who to believe. The other monsters are all well-rounded and unique. I found it very easy to distinguish between them all and found no issues thinking one character was another. I was really invested in their friendship and felt as though I was also a part of the monsters myself.

The way in which the author depicts sections of the book made me feel as though I was there in Gap Mountain myself. The descriptions of how the wildfire spread through towns and towards Yosemite National Park felt as though they were actually happening before my own eyes. You can tell that the author has researched heavily on how fire spreads during a wildfire, the fire investigation process, police interrogation processes and a whole lot more. This helped make the book feel so real that if you were to tell me that it had been based on a true story (which it has not) I would believe you.

I would love to read more thrillers from this author in the future and her books will be ones I keep my eyes out for. Her writing kept be guessing right the way through the book and the gasps I let out at parts were very necessary.

Overall, I would highly recommend this exciting, mysterious and shocking thriller YA book. It kept me on the edge of my seat, shocked me at every turn and I enjoyed reading it a lot!

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